Mass Effect 3 sells 1.3 million in US - NPD

Mass Effect 3 recorded first-month US sales of 1.3 million units across the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions of the trilogy-capping role-playing game, according to NPD data provided to Joystiq. Commander Shepard's latest journey was a platinum trip.

The figure covers only physical retail copies of the game and does not factor in digitally distributed versions for the PC or PS3. NPD does not break down sales by platform, but Microsoft's Aaron Greenberg said on Twitter that the Xbox 360 version of Mass Effect 3 sold 943,000 units during the month, outperforming the PS3 version by a 4:1 margin.

As reported by NPD yesterday, March was a tough month for the industry. Software tanked 26 percent year-over-year, with hardware dipping even more drastically, down 35 percent compared to last year's tally.